Tag Archive for: cybersecurity

Defending against cyber attacks: Antivirus software and antivirus employees

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There are two basic defenses you should have in place to defend against cyber attacks One is technological, the other is human. Together, the two can go a long way to protecting the integrity and security of your data.
Antivirus software and network protection – One of the risks you face these days is the one that is most likely to damage your brand. It is the one most likely to deeply undermine customer confidence and trust. That risk is a data breach. If you experience some form of data breach where your clients perceive their data has been compromised, your brand is damaged permanently. More importantly, you are liable for the financial consequences of a data breach. Make sure that your systems are protected by the latest antivirus software and that you are consistently updating it. New viruses appear every day, so outdated antivirus software is less likely to protect you.

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Managing risk: Keeping IT up and running

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So why are we addressing risk management? Because every firm needs to make plans if something bad happens. It could be a fire, flood, hurricane, extensive power or broadband outage, even an act of terror, but any of these events could affect your IT infrastructure or capacity to connect to it. And many smaller firms fail to recognize how reliant they are on their IT infrastructure. Here are two tools that can help keep your IT infrastructure operational in the event of a disaster.

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How to improve data security and save some money

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With all the worry about data security and the risks of data breaches, firms need to have safeguards in place. Here are two ways you can lessen the risk of your data being lost or stolen. These can also make running your IT infrastructure simpler and perhaps even less expensive.

Data storage and cloud backups – If your data is stored and backed up on-site, you may be exposing your business and customer data to an entirely unnecessary vulnerability. On-site data storage and backups expose your business to serious risk.

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Managing Risks: Small firms need to wake up

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You may not think too much about serious disasters. Most of us focus on the day-to-day chores of running our businesses and keeping revenues up. However, there are long term planning concerns that many firms just avoid. Those concerns are managing the risk to your business if something very bad happens. This long-term planning is called risk management and it is the dullest topic ever—until something bad happens.

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Website cloning: Don’t fall for that trap!

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Have you watched one of those horror movies where something impersonates the protagonist only to wreak havoc later? Well, website cloning does the same thing–to your business–in real life. Website cloning is one of the most popular methods among scammers to fleece you of your money.

As the name suggests, the cybercriminal first creates a ‘clone’ site of the original one. There can be a clone of any website, though retail shopping sites, travel booking sites and banks are the favorites of cybercriminals. The clone site looks exactly like the original one, barring a very miniscule change in the url.

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Get smart about smartphones

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With flexible working schedules, remote teams and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies in force, it is has become commonplace for employees and business owners alike to use smartphones for work purposes. A quick reply to an email, sharing that sales presentation, glancing over that vendor proposal–all on a smartphone–is something we all do on a daily basis. But with this convenience comes great security risks.

This blog discusses what they are and how you can avoid them.

Mobile devices are lost/stolen more easily.

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IT Red Flags to Watch Out For

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As someone running a SMB, you probably have a lot on your plate. You are the core decision maker, responsible for growing your business, keeping your clients happy and getting all the working done. Often, when you have so much going on, one area that gets overlooked is IT. When you are so busy looking into other things, the start of IT issues may slip your watchful eyes. In this blog, we discuss the IT red flags that you need to watch out for.

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Hiring seasonal staff? Here are a few things to consider from the IT perspective

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In many industries, there are seasonal spikes in business around specific times. For example, CPAs/Accounting firms, though busy all year, generally see a spike in business around the time of tax planning, IRS return filing, etc., the retail industry sees a boom around the Holiday Season, and so on. During such peak times, it is common practice in the industry to employ part-time staff to meet the immediate resource needs. While this works well in terms of costs and for handling additional work/client inflow, this poses a few challenges from the IT perspective. In this blog, we explore those challenges so you know what to watch out for before bringing part-time staff on board.

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What does HIPAA require of you: A bird’s eye view

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So you know you are regulated by HIPAA. But in a broad sense, what must your organization do to be in compliance? First and foremost, you need to understand what HIPAA and the HITECH Act are regulating. HIPAA and the HITECH Act are regulating and enforcing the security of an individual patient’s health information. The specific information being regulated is known as Protected Health Information (PHI), also known sometimes as Individually Identifiable Health Information (IIHI), and its subset, electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). ePHI is simply PHI stored, maintained, etc. in digital form. These are defined as any data that can individually identify a patient. That means anything that can reasonably ID a patient. Examples include SSN, medical ID, age, vmail, URLs, driver’s license number, license plate numbers, photos, names of relatives, identified test results, telephone numbers, email and postal addresses, and medical images. As can be seen, this sweeps a large swath of data under the umbrella of protected information.

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HIPAA: A Quick Primer

You deal with HIPAA every time you visit a medical office. But what is this law that seems to constantly appear anytime you get near a healthcare provider? HIPAA is the acronym for The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Aside from allowing for portability of health insurance for the individual, the laws main reason for being is to ensure the protection and privacy of an individual’s medical data. HIPAA strictly regulates the security of medical data, and holds anyone who possesses or touches it in any way liable for any data breach that occurs. HIPAA (1996) and its younger cousin, the HITECH Act of 2006 strictly regulate and monitor the security of all individual medical data in the U.S.

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